Gumbalimba Park — Attraction in Roatán

After 20+ years as an owner on the island I tend to no longer participate in the activities aimed at tourists… however, a friend currently visiting really wanted to zipline so I fell to the recommendation of my property manager and several renters who have visited my home and went with the Gumbalimba Park zipline. I knew from a visit to the park many years ago when it first opened that the zipline would put us down on a beach area near the park, which seemed like a good location to add. The online booking feature seemed to point us to a Roatan Tours and I’m not really sure where the distinction between the 2 lies, if there is one, but they deserve the highest recommendation. Their customer service staff called and emailed immediately upon receiving any of our questions… booking online was pretty easy (even though Internet can sometimes be a challenge) but they always responded immediately. The Zipline and park package we opted for included pickup at our home… Henry, our driver, called ahead to check directions and turned up promptly. He kept us entertained on the scenic drive to West Bay (possibly missed a calling as a stand up comic!) and got us kitted out with the zipline and safety gear, basic instructions, etc till our zipline guides, DeRon and Karsh, joined us… they were great, too, obviously with a primary focus on safety, but also ensuring we were enjoying ourselves. They certainly had to work hard with 2 ladies or a certain age and weight, but did so with a smile and some more wisecracks. They even took photos of us gliding down with our own camera (instead of the usual practice of the establishment taking the photos for a price)… The zipline was great fun and not so challenging that anyone should be able to do it. At the bottom of the zipline DeRon became our guide for the park… I was last there when the park first opened about 15 years ago and it is not only bigger, but also better organized. I think we saw more and got more information having DeRon, a Roatan native, as our personal guide. The “trainer” in the the monkeys and parrots area was also very informative… the monkeys are wild (keep your bag closed for fear of their prying fingers) but he knew them all and they him and were very comfortable around us. Again, they took some excellent photos on our own cameras…. There seems to be an abundance of babies around at the moment, an understandable reaction to the quieter times and lack of crowds during COVID! One thing I remembered vividly and, in fear, from my first visit has not changed… the rope bridge which I find more fear-inspiring than the zipline! Henry met us again at the end of the tour and, at our request, dropped us at a nearby location for lunch instead of returning home. We felt very fortunate to have the entire zipline and park and our wonderful guides to ourselves, or it seemed that way, presumably due to things just returning to opening post pandemic, but I’m assuming that will no longer be the case when the cruise ships and more tourists return so I’d recommend you booking your visit to zipline and visit Gumbalimba Park through Roatan Tours soon to ensure that your experience is as great...

We loved most of this place. The location was beautiful, the snorkeling was awesome, the kayaking was ok (nothing special), the monkeys and parrots were super fun, and the guides were all really informative, fun, and helpful during the tour. The reason for my 1 star rating is that I had purchased a locker that was advertised as "safe and secure" for my personal belongings while we snorkled. I was given a key to a really inexpensive, tiny lock (think dollar-store-quality lock), and was told by the guides that someone would be watching over the lockers while we were gone. While we were snorkeling somebody had gotten into my locker and had removed almost $300 in cash from my wallet. They left some cash and all of my credit cards and IDs in there, thank goodness, but most of my cash was taken. They did not break the lock, they opened it with a key (tiny, cheap lock with a generic key) and put the lock back on after they had finished robbing us. When we came back from snorkeling we first noticed that the locker wasn't packed like we left it, and that somebody had rifled through our bags (we pack our bags a certain way). I went straight to my wallet and sure enough most of my cash was missing. I think they left some cash in the wallet hoping that we wouldn't notice right away that we had been robbed. I reported this to our guide, who took us to the front desk, who called security. I told the security supervisor what had happened, and he said that I "had the only key to that lock". I told him that it was a generic, cheap key and that pretty much any small key could open it. I asked if they had security cameras pointed at the lockers, and they don't. He said that nobody could have gotten into the lockers because there is a person watching them, but there wasn't one there when we got back from snorkeling and for the next 30 minutes nobody was there. He said that he would go get his manager. I told him where I would be, but I never saw him again. They had some third-party vendors selling trinkets and t-shirts on the beach, and they were very aggressive before we went snorkeling. When we had returned from snorkeling they avoided our entire group, so I think it might have been one of them, but I'm not sure. Our guide didn't seem too surprised that we had money taken out of our locker when we told him about it.

The bottom line is that they did nothing to remedy this, and they didn't even take the issue seriously. Your personal possessions are not "safe and secure " in their lockers, which is too bad because it's a pretty cool...

The summary of the review below is that there was one polite receptionist, and an extremely rude receptionist. The polite receptionist efforts are negated by the rude receptionist.

I live on the island with my wife. I am a native English speaker and barely can speak Spanish. My wife speak Spanish because she's from this country. I had two family members come in from out of town. They wanted to zip line. I chose this place to take them. When we arrived to this park, they had a park and walk down to where the tickets can be purchased. My family bought their two tickets, me and my wife are going to wait for them to finish the zip line. I wanted to return to the car. On our way from places where you make purchases, we were attempting to walk back towards our car. I had a camera around my neck and was trying to figure out the way to get to the car. Here enters, rude receptionist. She shouts towards us. I reply to her. We are trying to get to our car. At this point, I assume that she doesn't speak English or is just rude. My wife speak Spanish, and the woman spoke with her. From what I gathered from my wife, she thought we were trying to take ourselves a free tour of the park. My wife told her we're trying to go to the car. She told us she'd have to charge us. It is my belief that she did speak English and didn't care what I had to say. She was accusing us of trying to get something free from the park. We wanted to go to our car. It is very insulting to be lectured by others.

Does that person speak English? Who knows? Do you think a place that has tourist, would have people that could speak more than Spanish. Maybe send the person that's bilingual to go lecture the gringo and his possibly Hispanic wife. My wife still wants to come here with her her family when they visit, hopefully that experience is not...